Client challenge

Haier, a Fortune 500 company is China's largest home appliances and white goods manufacturer, and owner of Qingdao Haier, a Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed business. Haier was seeking opportunities around the world, acquiring and consolidating overseas operations of Haier Group as the platform for its global business.

Approach

Our Corporate Finance function acted as Qingdao Haier’s financial advisor and project manager, while our Transaction Services, Tax, HR, IT and Valuation teams acted as due diligence advisors on Qingdao Haier’s US$5.4bn acquisition of GE’s global appliance business in 2016. 

We coordinated a project team of more than 150 people from 10 countries including Canada, India, Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the US to complete a wide range of tasks at a high pace. 

Some of the most challenging issues concerned the deal’s tax aspects. Our team advised on a tax-efficient acquisition structure and debt financing approach, while also advising the client on how to structure their debt to gain further potential tax savings in the future.

Impact

We successfully completed the deal in just 38 days, with a cash consideration exceeding US$5.4 billion. We navigated the challenges of this highly complex cross-border deal, the biggest transaction ever conducted in the white goods industry.